During the last several years, we have witnessed incredibly rapid advances in both the information processing and telecommunications industry. These advances have shortened the time for various communications to be relayed between individuals and companies from several days to several seconds. Since many business decisions must be made upon the immediate receipt of information received via these technological improvements in the communications industry, various portable telecommunication systems were developed to insure that corporate executives, sales people, real estate agents and the like can immediately be contacted via a telephone system when they are not in their respective offices.
Until quite recently, the most popular form of communications using a portable telephone was the so-called mobile telephone system. According to this system, a city or region covered by this system is provided with a relatively few number of antennas. An individual who wishes to utilize this system must contact the operator which is associated with each antenna. This system proved quite unwieldy since the individual must be relatively close to one of the antennas to initiate the call with the operator and to sustain it with the called party. Additionally, according to its design, this system could accommodate only a relatively few simultaneously placed telephone calls.
Very recently, the Federal Communications Commission has approved the implementation and utilization of a new portable telecommunications system known as the cellular telephone system. Each city or region which utilizes this system would install a large number of antennas strategically placed throughout the area. These antennas would be designed such that a relatively large number of communications could occur at the same time. Additionally, if one or both of the parties utilizing the cellular telephone system would be in transit during the time of the communication, the communication would be automatically transferred to adjacent antennas as the individual or individuals move through the region. Therefore, this system is a marked improvement upon the standard mobile telecommunications system in that operator assistance is not necessitated, a large number of calls may be simultaneously placed and the entire city or region is blanketed with a relatively large number of antennas. This cellular system is presently in operation in such cities as Chicago, Illinois and Washington, D.C. and it is envisioned that in the immediate future, virtually all substantial metropolitan areas or regions will have access to such a system.
Due to its portability, the obvious use of the cellular telecommunication system would be by individuals travelling in their automobiles. Although the telephone transceivers which would be utilized in such a system could be permanently installed in each individual's automobile, due to the relatively expensive nature of such equipment and the problem of crime endemic to all metropolitan areas, such an installation would not be a wise idea. Consequently, it has been suggested that rather than to permanently install the cellular telephone into an automobile, the present invention describes a means for providing this telephonic equipment within a carrying means such as an attache case or a briefcase in order to overcome the problems delineated hereinabove. Furthermore. a cellular system provided in a portable carrying case would allow the individual to utilize the system even when he is not travelling in his automobile and is instead in a hotel room, a client's office or the like.